Page 95 of Callen's Captive
When Callen didn’t answer, Kate spun around. “He’s gone.” Her stomach sank. Callen had left, without saying goodbye. It couldn’t end this way between them. . .
She was going to be sick. She’d never see him again, have the chance to tell him. . . Tell him what? She wasn’t even sure, only that she wasn’t ready to lose him.
“Don’t worry, Kate,” Blade said, his voice light and happy. “He’s checking the perimeter. He’ll be back.”
Relief flooded her. Not a trickle, but an entire dam’s worth of relief broke through and flooded her entire system. She hadn’t even realized she’d been holding her breath until Blade’s words allowed her to breathe again. The palms of both hands hurt from how hard she’d dug her nails into the tender flesh.
“He does that a lot. Check the perimeter,” she said, because it was obvious and easy, and she wouldn’t have to admit out loud that she was utterly relieved that he hadn’t left.
“It’s ingrained in him to protect, and when he’s stressed, he double and triple checks the perimeter.”
“Why?” she asked.
Blade stopped walking and looked at Kate as if the answer was obvious. “It calms him, knowing his pack is safe. And right now, we’re his pack.”
She should have known that. In some ways she already did, but Blade was saying more. Despite what Callen thought, Blade could be quite subtle. He wasn’t hitting her over the head telling her that everything Callen did as an enforcer was to protect the pack, he wanted her to realize it on her own. And she had. She’d been slow, her thoughts too clouded by her initial anger and hurt, but she could see clearly now.
Callen was as far from being a monster as anyone could be. Everything he did was for the safety of his pack. Torturing, killing. . . these were tools he wielded in his job. He hadn’t lied, not precisely. He’d told her over and over again that his job was to protect the pack. He just hadn’t told her how he accomplished that because he knew she wouldn’t react well. He was right.
Blade grunted from the effort of walking and the pain still wracking his body. Anna was talking to him in low whispers, with an occasional laugh. Kate smiled as she listened to Anna laughing. She sounded happy, really happy.
Kate followed Anna to the office in the back corner of the warehouse. Someone had converted the office into a small bedroom complete with the latest in security monitors. That explained how Anna knew she, Blade, and Callen were outside. The warehouse wasn’t as secure as the bunker, but the building was isolated, abandoned, and in relatively good shape. Anna had set up a place to sleep, with a lab next to the office. And in the middle of the warehouse, a wall of huge crates and abandoned road construction equipment hid Anna’s set up in the back.
As Anna helped Blade onto the bed, Kate wandered through the lab. She recognized some of the equipment from a small lab she had set up for Anna in Boulder. Maybe they had moved it to Henley because it was closer to the forest.
Kate glanced toward the door again, but couldn’t see past the ‘wall’ of crates and construction equipment. Waiting for Callen to walk through that door wasn’t going to accomplish anything. If his perimeter patrols during the last few days were any indication, he would be gone for hours. Despite Blade’s words, she knew Callen was doing more than patrolling the area. He was avoiding her.
* * *
CALLEN
Callen had recognized the warehouse the moment they had approached. Damien had purchased the building and surrounding property years back to use as a safe-house close to the human population should anyone ever need it. Damien had set up an account with automatic bill pay for electricity, water, sewage, and taxes with enough money to keep the place running for years. Frank had been setting up the security system, until he landed in jail, and then Blade and Hayden had finished the job. The lab equipment in back was a recent addition, but it didn’t surprise him. The second Damien had learned of the breach at the bunker where Anna had been working, he probably ordered a group of shifters to salvage what was left of her equipment.
The set up was ideal for Anna; secure, a good place for her to work and live, especially if she couldn’t return to the safety of the pack. Callen and Kate could live here with Blade and Anna, given all the room, but it wasn’t the same as being with the pack. Blade didn’t seem to mind, however, but he had been alone on his own for several years before joining Callen’s pack. Callen was sure that as long as Anna was with Blade, his friend would be content.
Living in this warehouse wasn’t a life for Callen, not long term. Even if he found the other shifters who weren’t allowed to return to their pack, and he brought them here, it wouldn’t be the same. This separation from the pack, this isolation, was beyond comprehension.
From what Blade had told him, Anna and Alex were working together on the cure, though they were in two different locations. Alex was the virologist, but Anna, who was a genetic engineer and only minored in virology, had all the equipment they needed. Since Alex was infected and Anna wasn’t, he remained with the pack, in isolation, while Anna worked here. Blade was to be the conduit between the two through which all lab samples and research and consultations would travel. Blade and Frank had established a dead drop mid-way between the pack and the warehouse, with Frank serving as Alex’s messenger. Blade had just made his first drop when he’d caught Kate’s scent and followed it to her heading south with two of Drake’s guards.
Callen decided he would stay here a few days, give Blade the time to finish healing, before he headed to Liam’s pack, to speak with Hayden. As for Kate, Blade would find her a safe place to live if she didn’t want to stay with Anna and him. Callen liked the idea of Kate staying at the warehouse with Blade and Anna. Blade would protect her, and Kate would have Anna. The two women were already growing close, building on the friendship they’d begun over a year ago via email. There were no phones, Wi-Fi, or internet connections here to tempt Kate either. Anna’s computer was for documenting her research and wasn’t connected to the outside world. Kate would be safe from the WSSO, but Callen knew in his heart that she wouldn’t be happy here. His Kate had a mission to fulfill, and she’d let nothing get in her way.
Callen placed the bag of take-out from the diner three miles away onto the table in the small conference room. Anna had set up the room as a kitchen, with a ton of canned goods, paper products, a microwave, and a mini-frig. In the back left of the warehouse, there was a hose used for cleaning off equipment that Mason had rigged into a shower years back right after Damien had acquired the property. Callen fashioned a screen for privacy now that he and Kate were staying here.
Kate was setting the old beat-up wood conference table for dinner, throwing him looks every now and then, which made no sense whatsoever. She had said very little in the four-day hike here, except to Blade of course. They had talked non-stop at times.
It almost looked as if she wanted to talk to him but couldn’t bring herself to do so. Just as well. Callen was out of words. Blade had pretty much explained everything to her about what an enforcer does. There was nothing more Callen could add to that. She either accepted that aspect of him, or she didn’t.
“Smells good,” Blade said as he shuffled in. “Salmon or trout?”
“Neither.” Callen slid a plastic container across the table to him. “Your bones are healed.”
“Not fully. Still having trouble walking.” Blade pried the plastic lid off and frowned. “Chicken parmesan?”
Kate slid into a chair, her movement graceful, even seductive, except she wasn’t trying to seduce him, especially not here with Blade and Anna present. “Lots of calcium in the cheese,” Callen said, turning his attention back to Blade. “Good for your bones.”
Kate grinned.
Well, well, well. That was interesting.
